Tina Cohen-Chang auditions for Spanish teacher Will Schuester's new glee club with a brash rendition of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl." Offstage, though, Tina is timid and insecure.

Her interests include speed-metal, emo-core, cutting off her dolls' hair, and hangin' with her speech therapist, Judy. Using her stutter as an excuse, Tina withdraws from people, preferring to stay in the background. Tina and teammate Artie Abrams develop a relationship, and, during a date, Tina kisses Artie and tells him how impressed she is with him. Then she reveals a secret: her own disability -- her stutter -- isn't real. As a shy child she faked having a stutter to get out of an oral report, and then stuck with it when she realized she could use it to keep people at arms' length.Tina tells Artie that her positive experiences with glee have shown her how much she's been missing and she doesn't want to push people away anymore.

Tina's dramatic Goth style of dressing gets her in trouble with Principal Figgins when he fears a "Twilight"-inspired vampire takeover at the school. Tina's wit wins out when she convinces Figgins that her father is an actual vampire who'll attack Figgins if he doesn't let her dress how she wants.